Good Morning
Hi, I’m Huy Hong. I use to like to write, but the urge hasn’t come about in awhile and I’m worried. I’m in desperate need of inspiration. So, instead of letting that part of me decay, I’ve devised this master plan to get myself into literary gear and maybe create something significant while I’m at it.
thousandsonnets.com is my attempt at literary heroism. I feel the sonnet is an underappreciated form of poetry (free verse has taken over). So, to bring it back into the forefront of the literary world, I will in the same fashion as the masters of this poetic form (Shakespeare, Browning, Milton, Wordsworth, etc…) attempt an extended sonnet sequence, and I’m going for one thousand total sonnets. That’s 14,000 lines of mostly iambic pentameter, consisting of a whole lot of bad rhyming pairs and allusions to contemporary pop figures. Some will be epic, some will be jocular, some will be down right horrid, but the neat thing is, you’ll have a role in what I write (more on this later).
I have two problems though. First, I need to survive. Coming out of UCLA and spending inordinate amounts of time focusing on an independent writing career isn’t the wisest financial decision. And I don’t want to move back home.
More importantly, I need inspiration. I need a cog for that literary gear that’s been failing me. I need oranges and lemons for my iambic juicer. I need a muse. That burst. That sparkle. That compellating compeller of all things compelling.
Thats where you come in. I want you to be that infinite idea tree, inspiring endless writing sprees for my poor pen and I.
So here’s the idea (and its ancillary options):
- be my muse. tell me about your dog, your crush in 2nd grade, how much you hate your boss, the extent to which you’ve maxed out your credit cards on shoes and hair products, how much you love your girlfriend, how dog poo smells exceptionally bad when Buster eats diet kibbles and bits, etc. I’ll read/watch/listen, attempt to understand through your worldview, and commit your inspiring vision into totally awesome pieces of poetry.
- if you feel pity for me, donate some money so i can keep this site running and buy 10 cent packs of ramen for sustenance (and maybe an extra nickel for heat and purified water).
- if you actually enjoy my writing style and would love a custom tailored sonnet, as a gift or gesture or just to have, using your ideas and your feelings and your intent, donate a bit more and out my soul will pour the greatest piece of your proxied sentiment you’ll ever read. Never knew how to tell your wife how deliciously delectable her hair smells in the morning (and how you’d like to eat it, cept the strands of hair would just get stuck in your teeth and it wouldn’t taste too good, nor would she be too happy that her hair is now all gnawed up)? I’ll do it for you (write the sonnet, not eat her hair), with style and flare and pizazz, and it’ll rhyme too. Also, I’m gonna be picky as to what I write about and may need to contact you via IM, phone, or morse code to grasp a better understanding of your base intentions for such a piece. I’ll be kinda like Hitch (the Will Smith movie), but without the dance lessons (though I’d gladly take Eva Mendez).
- criticize me, bash me, and glorify me to all your friends, enemies, and teetering cohorts. Do mention me on your blog, print out my work and plaster it on your walls, dream about me writing about you, find some inspiration from my work, write a sonnet of your own, or find/miss other unneat/neat ways to put/pat me/you down/up.
- publish my work.
- enjoy the sonnet form.
Times up, go on and read some of my sample work, and here, and here, or go on and explore my ever-growing sonnet sequence.
Oh and if you wanted a custom sonnet or to publish my work, email me and we’ll work it out.